Police open investigation into Facebook user threatening to kill Netanyahu

‘Bibi should get a bullet in the head!’ wrote user ‘Tzvika Sabag,’ who has also threatened to target PM’s wife, son

Police on Monday opened an investigation into a Facebook user over threats to kill Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife, Sara, and his son, Yair.

In a statement, Netanyahu said he had asked acting police chief Motti Cohen to investigate the user, who made the threat under the name “Tzvika Sabag.”

The account earlier Monday posted: “Israel Police. Get ready to direct traffic to the funerals of Benjamin, Sara and Yair Netanyahu,” according to a screenshot released by Netanyahu’s office.

In another message, posted as Israel marks the 24th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the user recently wrote: “If there is one conclusion I reached on the eve of the anniversary, it is that Bibi should get a bullet in the head!”

The user’s profile picture features Netanyahu and a noose, and its bio says: “I hate to death Benjamin, Sara and Yair Netanyahu and anyone who cooperates with them.”

הפוסט של צביקה סבג בפייסבוק שלח אותו היישר לחקירות משטרה pic.twitter.com/E2b6wFxAQP

— Ruth kiryati Israel News (@RuthKiryati) November 4, 2019

The Israel Police subsequently issued a statement saying an investigation into the matter had been opened at the cyber crime unit at the anti-fraud Lahav 433 division.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, on November 3, 2019. (Oded Balilty / POOL / AFP)

The user’s profile picture is a poster made in 2016 by a student of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design featuring Netanyahu with a hangman’s noose. It sparked an uproar at the time, with police investigating accusations of incitement, but closing the probe two months later.

At an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv in December 2017, a protester caused similar outrage by parading with a cardboard guillotine. That sign was condemned by lawmakers across the political spectrum and President Reuven Rivlin as “incitement” against Netanyahu.

Last year, lawmakers from the ruling Likud party voiced outrage after slogans slamming Netanyahu, one of which called for his death, were discovered on a sidewalk and on walls of a building in central Tel Aviv.